Avaritia et Caritas
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day five hundred and thirty-five:  sins and virtues 3 of 7  A dinner with a new friend and possibly new love, turns to Artie questioning motives.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 25th cycle. Now cycle 26!_

**SINS + VIRTUES SET:** _Day 3 of 7: Avaritia (Greed) + Caritas (Charity)_

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><p><strong>"Avaritia et Caritas"<br>Artie & Puck **

It wouldn't have seemed possible, barely a year ago, that he would somehow strike up a friendship with Noah Puckerman, of all people. The guy had a marked interest in messing with him, the biggest of these offenses being the day he'd trapped him in a port-o-potty and threatened to flip it. Just thinking about it, Artie still had flashback smells of that tiny place. So they weren't friends, and Artie didn't see any reason to believe they ever would be.

So of course when he had come up to him, with the intent of spending time with him, Artie hadn't immediately believed him… how could he? But then, little by little, he did convince him. This was new for him, but he did like it… Puck was a lot more daring than he was, and Artie did like the odd thrill or two. He wasn't really realizing the way those thrills could lead him somewhere, new friendship or no, he didn't want to be.

Puck had helped him in his goal to get back close to Brittany, to give a second chance to their quick sort of fling from a few weeks before. The evening, with Puck, and Santana, and him and Brittany, the whole thing was really great, and he knew as it came to an end that he wouldn't have minded it all happening again sometime, either the four of them again, or just him and Brittany.

But then something changed. Puck revealed his master plan in this whole double date evening of theirs… they had dined, now they would dash, leaving the bill there for the waitress to have to cover.

Artie felt a chill up his spine. He'd been living this evening with a dash of thrill on his mind, but it had gone away in an instant. Now he was being himself again, coming to the slightly devastating realization that this friendship wasn't what it seemed. His father would always say to surround himself with people he trusted, and he said the same of people with honesty. And maybe Artie wasn't so honest all the time, but there were limits, and this was stepping over a big one.

He remembered when he was about six or seven years old, going to breakfast at the diner on a Saturday morning, with his mother… He didn't remember what had led to it, but she had told him about tipping and the likes, even about how certain things would end up having to be paid by those people waiting on them. And ever since then, Artie always made sure that everyone got what they were supposed to get.

So on that night, he just thought about that waitress, who'd been so nice to them all evening, and the look she would get when she'd realize what they had done… He couldn't do that to her. He knew the meal for four would set him back so far, especially since he'd been saving up for some chair upgrades, but he didn't have a choice. He reached into his wallet and he pulled out the bills, just in time for them to be taken by the waitress, never knowing how close she'd come to having to dip in her own savings.

Of course barely moments later he had to deal with a different kind of consequence, when he saw how Puck had spotted the 'covert' exchange. For a moment he was so very thankful there were no port-o-potties in the surrounding area, although Puck could probably find some other way to torture him, somewhere… He was nothing if not efficient in his bullying ways.

He was angry, this he expected. Still Artie couldn't feel sorry for what he'd decided to do. It had been the right thing, and he wasn't going to come back on that. Maybe he would lose whatever part of a friendship he had started with Puck, so soon after it had started, but under the circumstances he would take it and carry on with his life. If his doing what was right was wrong to Puck, then they weren't going to get very far anyway. He had to say, he would miss him if that was the case though. This wasn't anything he had expected, but it didn't change the fact that he liked being friends with the guy. It was different, and he'd never really had any guy friends like this… he just couldn't keep him by going against something he believed, not like this.

But it wasn't just anger he saw in his eyes. Maybe Puck wasn't even realizing it, but Artie saw it… betrayal. Like he'd opened the roads of friendship, his kind of friendship, and Artie had decided to take a different path, like his way was no good. He'd been telling tales of his time in juvie, like he'd been the king of them all, but he had changed, something about him came off as new. Artie had been trying to put his finger on it, whether he thought about it or not, and now he thought maybe he was getting close to it… Puck's defences had taken a hit. The walls weren't so strong anymore.

Now though… maybe they'd never know. Maybe he'd never speak to him again, not unless he really had to, like in class or in Glee Club. But then maybe he could put faith in the cracks in his defences, to allow for one more second chance.

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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